Substorm Triggering with HAARP
Authors' Class Standing
Thomas Guido, Senior Beket Tulegenov, Senior Anatoly V. Streltsov, Professor
Lead Presenter's Name
Thomas Guido
Faculty Mentor Name
Anatoly Streltsov
Abstract
Geomagnetic substorms are one of the most important geophysical phenomena occurring in the near-Earth space environment. Occurrence happens when electromagnetic power and charged particles interact with the magnetosphere and ionosphere of Earth. These charged particles entering into Earth’s magnetosphere during a substorm deteriorate electronic equipment on Low-Earth-Orbiting satellites. The electric and magnetic fields induced by the substorm also cause unmanageable currents in power lines at high latitudes. These damaging effects can be mitigated by artificial substorm triggering before the power stored in the magnetosphere reaches the critical level. We present studies of both natural geomagnetic substorms and artificial triggering of substorms using the HAARP facility in Alaska. Substorms can be triggered when the modulation of RF waves matches the “eigenfrequency” of the substorm and is measured by analyzing data collected from ground and satellite magnetometers. We report results from our experiments and observations where a substorm is induced or observed.
Location
Flight Deck
Start Date
9-4-2014 10:00 AM
Substorm Triggering with HAARP
Flight Deck
Geomagnetic substorms are one of the most important geophysical phenomena occurring in the near-Earth space environment. Occurrence happens when electromagnetic power and charged particles interact with the magnetosphere and ionosphere of Earth. These charged particles entering into Earth’s magnetosphere during a substorm deteriorate electronic equipment on Low-Earth-Orbiting satellites. The electric and magnetic fields induced by the substorm also cause unmanageable currents in power lines at high latitudes. These damaging effects can be mitigated by artificial substorm triggering before the power stored in the magnetosphere reaches the critical level. We present studies of both natural geomagnetic substorms and artificial triggering of substorms using the HAARP facility in Alaska. Substorms can be triggered when the modulation of RF waves matches the “eigenfrequency” of the substorm and is measured by analyzing data collected from ground and satellite magnetometers. We report results from our experiments and observations where a substorm is induced or observed.